{
  "id": "murder-rate",
  "title": "Murders reported to the police",
  "description": "Total murder cases reported nationally for the 2023/24 financial year (April 2023 – March 2024). This is the first decline in four years, equating to approximately 72 murders per day. The rate is 41.9 per 100,000 population.",
  "unit": "cases",
  "category": "crime",
  "latest": {
    "value": 26232,
    "display": "26,232"
  },
  "source": {
    "publisher": "South African Police Service",
    "publication": "Crime Statistics 2023/24",
    "url": "https://www.saps.gov.za/services/crimestats.php",
    "releasedOn": "2024-09-20"
  },
  "checkedOn": "2025-05-01",
  "page": "https://sadatahub.tech/series/murder-rate",
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "citation": "South African Police Service (2024). Crime Statistics 2023/24. Series \"Murders reported to the police\" via SA Data Hub, https://sadatahub.tech/series/murder-rate (checked 2025-05-01).",
  "points": [
    {
      "period": "2017/18",
      "value": 20336
    },
    {
      "period": "2018/19",
      "value": 21022
    },
    {
      "period": "2019/20",
      "value": 21325
    },
    {
      "period": "2020/21",
      "value": 23961
    },
    {
      "period": "2021/22",
      "value": 26873
    },
    {
      "period": "2022/23",
      "value": 27494
    },
    {
      "period": "2023/24",
      "value": 26232
    }
  ],
  "revisions": [],
  "changeLog": [
    {
      "date": "2026-10-28",
      "type": "data-update",
      "summary": "Published the January to March 2022 to 2026 series from the SAPS fourth-quarter 2025/26 statistics, released on 22 May 2026 (SAPS, POLICE magazine special edition, May 2026, pages 4 and 7). Murder, contact crime and robbery with aggravating circumstances are shown as a separate quarterly series. The annual 2023/24 figures are unchanged."
    },
    {
      "date": "2026-10-28",
      "type": "data-update",
      "summary": "Checked the SAPS fourth-quarter 2025/26 workbook (January to March 2026, compared with January to March 2022 to 2025). It covers one quarter, not a full financial year, so the annual 2023/24 figures are unchanged (murder 26 232, contact crime 561 947, robbery with aggravating circumstances 162 618). The quarterly figures (January to March 2026: murder 5 181, down from 5 727; contact crime 154 267, down from 161 672; robbery with aggravating circumstances 26 796, down from 31 749) will be shown once the SAPS release date is confirmed; the workbook does not state one. It has no notes on definition or category changes."
    },
    {
      "date": "2025-05-01",
      "type": "data-update",
      "summary": "Annual SAPS crime series refreshed with the latest published reporting cycle."
    }
  ]
}